Hospital chair



May 24, 1955 JOHNSON ET AL 2,708,963

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gmotf United States Patent HOSPITAL CHAIR Edmund C. Johnson and Francis J. Burst, Batesville, Ind., and Harry M. Weese, Chicago, Ill., assignors to Hill-Rom Company, Inc., Batesville, Ind., a corporation of Indiana Application February 13, 1951, Serial No. 210,678

1 Claim. (Cl. 155158) This invention concerns hospital lounge chairs, or arm chairs as they are sometimes called, of the type characterized by a back construction which is sufficiently high to provide support for the back of the head so that a patient sitting in one of them can lean back and relax completely. These chairs are kept in the patients rooms for use by them during convalescence. However, they are used for this purpose but one or two days out of most patients stays in a hospital, and as a matter of fact, are used by visitors more frequently than by patients. Even so, the patients need for them is well recognized and a lounge chair of this type is included as a matter of course in practically all hospital room suites.

Generally, the hospital lounge chairs available in the past all followed somewhat the same pattern. A high back was the general rule. Heavy construction was utilized throughout. Most of these chairs were quite large. As a result of the design and construction, these chairs were typically institutional in appearance. Of course, the weight and bulk of these chairs made it quite unhandy for an attendant or nurse to move them about. In addition, in most instances they were so large that the space occupied by them was out of proportion to the use that they received.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a hospital lounge chair which is light in weight, no larger than an ordinary arm chair used in the home, and one which gets away from the institutional look of past hospital chairs by a novel arrangement of the seat and back cushions and a novel back construction which permits the back cushion to be raised or lowered to and from a head supporting position. In the lower position, the chair gives the appearance of a small, but well designed, domestic arm chair; while in the raised position, the top of the back cushion is about head level of a person sitting in it so that a head rest is provided. Thus, the. present invention incorporates the head rest feature essential to a hospital chair in a structure having the advantages of a domestic chair.

The novel arrangement of the cushions makes it possible to construct the present chair so that it is not only comparatively small but also quite attractive and, thus in keeping with rather recent trends to establish a homelike atmosphere in hospital rooms, the high backed, heavy or bulky appearance which gave past hospital chairs the institutional look is avoided. In the preferred embodiment, both the seat and the back cushions are of the inner spring type and adapted to be slipcovered with attractive materials, further dispelling the institutional appearance.

Other objects of the present invention and advantages to the present chair construction will be more fully set forth in the following detailed description of the drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a hospital lounge chair showing a preferred construction.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the chair shown in Figure l with the back and seat cushions removed.

Figure 3 is a side view of the chair in cross section showing the back cushion in lowered position.

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3 showing the back cushion in raised position.

Referring to Figure 1, the present chair comprises in general a back frame 10, a seat frame 11, and pairs of tubular metal legs 12-12. The details of construction of the back and seat frames are illustrated best in Figure 2. In this figure, it will be noted that the back includes a chair of upright side members 13-13, a top cross piece 14 and a bottom cross piece 15. These members, 13, 14 and 15, constitute a rectangular framework incorporating a plurality of slats 16 which extend parallel with the side members. The seat frame 11 is also generally rectangular and includes a pair of side rails 1717, a back rail 18 and a front rail 19. As in the case of the back frame 10, the seat frame incorporates a plurality of slat members 20 which extend from the front rail to the back rail parallel with the side rails. The members comprising both of the frames may be fastened together following known chair manufacturing practices. In addition, the joint between the two frames may be reinforced by means of corner brackets such as those shown at 21. Although the exact angular disposition of the back frame relative to the seat frame is not critical, it has been found that an inner angle of or thereabouts, in combination with a backward slant of the seat frame or somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 relative to the floor provides a very comfortable arrangement.

In the construction illustrated, the back and seat frame members are assembled as a unit and this unit suspended between the pair of tubular metal legs 12-12, the legs being secured to the side rails of the bottom frame at opposite points by bolts or the like and similarly fastened to the respective side members 13 of the back frame. Generally, each leg is formed from a length of tubing which is roughly in the shape of an inverted U, with the upper run of the U constituting an arm rest portion 22, which extends rearwardly on a slant roughly paralleling the seat frame; a rear portion 23 which is bent downwardly from an arm rest portion 22 to run parallel with the side member 13; and then a rear leg portion 24 which is formed by bending the tubing rearwardly at a steep slant near the joint between the back and seat frames. Observing Figure 3, it will be noted from the vertical dot-dash line indicated at 25 that the rearmost point of the legs 24 extend outwardly beyond the tops of the side members 13. Or in other words, when the present chair is shoved against a wall, the legs 24 contact the toe strip of the wall footboard before the top of the chair has a chance to contact the wall and in this way, protect the wall from being marred. Block type arm pads, similar to those shown at 26, may be utilized on the arm rest portions 22 of each of the legs, these blocks being grooved out on the underside to embrace the tubular metal used in the legs and pinned thereto by cross pins such as those shown at 27.

Both the seat cushion, indicated at 28, and the back cushion, indicated at 29, are of the inner spring type having both faces padded. The seat cushion rests on the slats 20 of the bottom frame and is retained at the forward end by a cross plate'30, the cross plate being fastened to the forward edge of the front rail 19. It will be noted that the side rails 17 of the seat frame extend upwardly beyond the slats in order to maintain seat cushion 28 against sidewise movement.

When the chair is being used as an ordinary lounge chair, without the head rest feature, the lower edge of the back cushion 29 is down below the rear end of the seat cushion and rests upon the slats 20 and rear rail 18. The back cushion is of such a height that when in this lower position, the upper end extends just slightly above the top cross piece 14 of the back frame. in the proportion shown, this height is such that a person sitting in the chair is supported by the top of the back cushion in the region of the shoulders just as an ordinary lounge chair used in the home does. This position of the two cushions is shown best in the perspective view of Figure 1 and it will be noted that a very attractive chair results, one fol lowing generally the modern functional lines which have become popular in recent years.

When it is desired to raise the back cushion to a point where a patients head is supported, a rack, indicated generally by the numeral 31, is utilized. This rack may be made of light tubular metal such as aluminum or the like which is bent into a rough U shape. The bottom of the U is bent forward to form a foot portion indicated at 32. This foot portion extends underneath the lower edge of back cushion 29, as shown in Figures 3 and 4. The generally upright portions of the U terminate in hooks 33 formed at their upper ends, these hook portions being bent over toward the rear and covered with rubber as indicated at 34. The rack is braced at the top by a cross piece 35 which may be bent upwardly in the middle portion to provide a hand grip 36. Preferably, the rack is of such width at the top that the two rubber-covered hooks 33 wedge slightly between the side members 13-43 of the back frame when the rack is in the lowered position shown in Figure 3. As in the case of the seat frame, the side members extend outwardly beyond the slats 16 so that the back cushion is maintained against sidewise movement by them. But in addition, the extension of the side members serves to hide the rack from view and when the rack is in the lowered position of Figure 3, it can be seen only from the rear of the chair.

In order to raise or elevate the back cushion, all that has to be done is to push the back cushion forward slightly so that the hand hold 36 of cross piece 35 is within reach, then pivot the rack forward to clear the hooks with respect to the top cross piece 14 of the chair back, and then lift the rack, the foot 32 of the rack raising the back cushion. The rack is brought up to a point where the rubber-covered hooks 33 can be engaged over the top cross piece 14 and thus the back cushion is held in the position shown in Figure 4. In this position, the upper portion of the back cushion, being above the back of the chair, is in position to provide support for the back of the patients head. In the preferred embodiment, the inner spring construction utilized permits a certain amount of give to the extended part of the cushion, making a very comfortable head rest.

When the back cushion is raised, its lower end is, of course, raised with respect to the seat cushion. In the instance shown, the lower edge of the back cushion is spaced above the top of the seat cushion. However, it has been found that this spacing is not noticed by one sitting in the chair, because it is in back of the buttocks which require no support from the chair back. In order to keep the seat cushion from sliding back when the back cushion is in the raised position, a retainer strip 37 is utilized, this strip extending across the slats of the seat frame from side rail to side rail and being secured in position following usual furniture manufacturing techniques. It is preferred that strip 37 be tapered as shown in Figure 4 so as to not interfere with the raising or lowering of the back cushion 29.

Having described our invention, we claim:

in a hospital lounge chair having a seat frame and a back frame, said back frame joined to the rear edge of said seat frame and extending upwardly and rearwardly therefrom at an obtuse angle, said chair further having a seat cushion and a back cushion, said seat cushion being shorter than said scat frame and said back cushion being substantially the same height as said back frame, said cushions being normally disposed upon their respective frames with the lower edge of the back cushion between the rear edge of the seat cushion and the back frame, said back cushion and back frame being of such height that when the back cushion is in said normal position the upper portion thereof provides support for the shoulder region of a person sitting in the chair, means for raising and sustaining said back cushion in an elevated position in which its said upper portion is above the upper edge of the back frame to provide head support for a person sitting in the chair, said means comprising a rigid rack separable from the chair, said rack having a foot portion extending forwardly from the lower end thereof which is adapted to engage under the lower edge of said back cushion to support said back cushion thereon, a pair of hooks at the upper end of said rack adapted to engage over the top of said back frame, the vertical distance between the hooks and the foot of the rack being shorter than the height of said back cushion by an amount approximately equal to the vertical distance between the normal position of the back cushion and the elevated position of the back cushion, whereby the rack may be hooked over the top of said back frame to maintain said back cushion in said elevated position or may be lowered from the elevated position with the back cushion resting thereon to reside between the back cushion and the back frame where it is hidden from view.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 163,656 Virtue June 12, 1951 633,012 Kidd Sept. 12, 1899 2,060,298 Gailey Nov. 10, 1936 2,307,331 Parker Jan. 5, 1943 2,605,818 Dabbs Aug. 5, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 713,653 Germany Nov. 12, 1941 

